War Games
by Samurai1988
Summary: James Dawn, a member of the elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the UNSC fights his way to and through the UNSC War Games which was shot down during a space battle. OC, takes place before the fall of Reach and the Halo games. Complete.
1. Rough Landing

Rough Landing

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

'Fuck my life," Corporal James Dawn thought as the Pelican Drop ship suddenly lurched to one side as it was hit. He jumped in a seat and quickly buckled himself in. He waited for a long ten seconds and looked around almost in slow motion observing the other men buckle in too. With a sudden crunch the ten seconds ended and his head snapped back and everything went suddenly dark. 'Yeah,' he thought as it went black, 'It's gonna be a long day.'

* * *

"Delta 438, come in over," Lieutenant Amy Dawn tried for the third time to raise the downed Pelican Drop ship. She sighed and tried to fight off the panic she felt rising inside her. She had to raise that ship, just had too. It had been sent in with a team of ODST troops to survey a crash sight of a human warship. The UNSC War Games had been knocked out of action and had crash landed during a naval engagement over the planet of Draco VIII. The naval battle was done but the ground battle was just beginning to warm up.

"Any luck Lieutenant?" Captain Ambrose called to his communications officers. She turned to face him in his command chair on the bridge of the UNSC Kiowa.

"None sir," She replied, "I'm trying on different frequencies as well as listening for an emergency beacon."

"Keep trying," the Captain said, "We can't afford to lose one of only three teams available to our small fleet."

She nodded and immediately resumed her work. Lieutenant Sarah Parker saw her friend's distress from across the bridge and got up from her work station at the weapons console and made her way over. She placed her hand on Amy's shoulder and leaning in close asked, "James was on that ship?" Amy nodded.

"Take a break," Sarah told her, "Go get some coffee for us and I'll keep trying to raise them." Amy shook her head fighting back tears, "I have to know if he's ok," she said in a whisper. Sarah nodded in understanding and turned to get the coffee herself when the radio suddenly squelched and a transmission garbled by static emitted from the earpiece Amy wore.

"I've got something," she said excitedly punching keys on the console to clear up the transmission. The next transmission came through only slightly garbled.

"UNSC Kiowa, this is Corporal James Dawn of Delta 438," Static broke it up and the next they heard was distressing news for everybody on the bridge, "We've taken heavy casualties and are down to fifty percent strength all wounded. We're making our way to the downed ship send reinforcements. Over"

"Corporal Dawn," Captain Ambrose called, "All troops are committed to the ground battle. You'll have to hold on until we can dispatch them. How many are you facing?"

The radio squelched and the whole crew could hear gunfire erupt before the signal died and they all waited tensely for it to resume. When it did a collective sigh of relief could be heard around the bridge.

"Several hundred Grunts, a couple score of Jackals and a score or so of Elites," James responded over the noise of gunfire erupting again. A sudden swooshing noise could be heard along with a Marine in the background yelling out in surprise. "Ah, shit," was all they heard before the signal died out again. It resumed a moment later. "Make a pair of Hunters and a dozen or so Brutes." A Sniper rifle sounded twice and James came back over the radio, "Make that, ten Brutes."

"What's your plan Corporal? And where's Staff Sergeant McPherson?" The Captain asked.

"DOE," was the reply before gunfire erupted again and the signal died.

'Dead on Entry,' the captain mused the term usually referred to orbital entry in Human Entry Vehicles, but it told the captain what he wanted to know. He waited quietly for the transmission to resume; the whole bridge had stopped in fact, waiting on the word.

It was a long thirty seconds while he waited on the transmission to continue but it was even longer for Amy who waited on the edge of her seat, once again fighting back tears. "He'll be ok," Sarah told her soothingly, "James has luck that would make the Irish jealous." Amy gave a slight smile at the true statement. She just hoped it would hold out.

* * *

James came to with a sudden jerk and stared for a moment at the darkness in front of him. It was a long moment with his throbbing head until he realized that it was the other side of the pelican and it was above him. "Fuck, shit, ass," he thought as he winced at the throbbing in his head. He unbuckled himself and rolled around to stand on his seat, almost falling over again as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. He used his suit to run a scan on everybody in the ship. Out of his thirteen man squad only six showed signs of life. Staff Sergeant McPherson was dead as was Sergeant Kerner. The five others were Corporal Jackson, Lance Corporal Johns, Private First Class Ahmed, Private Reeves, and Private Williams. The last three were all new and so James didn't know them that well, but Corporal Jackson had been his rack mate at the ODST school and the teams Demo Expert. Lance Corporal Johns was just a rifleman but had been with James for almost a year.

James sighed as his Uncles voice came to him, 'One of the shittiest things about war is that you have to watch your friends die.'

He started kicking them awake and found that the crew chief was alive but both the pilot and co-pilot were dead. He had six men with him and he happened to be the ranking marine on hand. When they were all awake he moved them outside the pelican as he searched it with the assistance of LCPL Fatima. The removed food, weapons, ammo, and destroyed anything that could be used against them or provide intelligence to the enemy. They moved their fallen to a ravine where they collapsed it on them.

He looked over his remaining men. A crewman who had never been on the ground before and two Rookies straight from school and two he knew who were solid. LCPL Donald was the team's heavy weapons expert and toted a Model Six Non linear Rifle or Spartan Laser along with a M7 case less submachine gun on a neck sling. The Spartan Laser was a man portable, shoulder fired energy powered weapons capable of penetrating and taking out heavy gear such as tanks. The M7 case less submachine gun was the M7S model used by Special Forces; it fired a 5 mm case less round with a sixty round clip and was known as the bullet hose, the S designation meant silenced as it had a silencer attached to the muzzle. LCPL Fatima was armed with a single M7S.

LCPL Bunker was now the head demo man for the team and toted a M41 Rocket Launcher which was a shoulder fired weapon with 102 mm surface to surface missiles carrying two in it and Bunker toted a half dozen more on his body. He had a satchel with M165 Demolition Charges inside which they could set and then trigger remotely. LCPL Tyler was a new guy and toted a Battle Rifle Model 55 which was a shoulder fired weapon, firing three round burst of 9.5 mm ammunition out of a thirty six round magazine and also had a 2x zoom scope. Tyler also toted an extra four rockets for Bunker, and had the job of being his assistant gunner. PFC Menendez toted a MA5C Individual Combat Weapons System firing a 7.62 round in fully automatic mode from a 32 round magazine, it was a bull pup design fired from the shoulder. To make up for its small magazine capacity he also carried a M7S in a sling from his neck and shoulder.

James was the team's marksman and somehow the close quarters battle expert as well. He carried his Sniper Rifle System 99D-S2 Anti-Material in front of him, which fired a 14.5 mm Armor Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot round from a four round magazine. It was a high powered rifle that many called instant death. The scope was a 5x and 10 xs zoom and provided night vision and heat vision as well as elevation and distance. As his secondary weapons James carried a M90 Close Assault Weapons System on his back, which fired an 8 gauge shell from a 12 round magazine underneath the barrel, it was a pump action system and James loved hearing the sound of a racking shotgun before heading into a fight.

Everybody present carried a new M6C SOCOM as their sidearm pistol which fired a 12.7 mm magnum round from a 12 round magazine and was a special issue to the special operations forces with a built in sound suppressor, muzzle brake and laser aiming module underneath the barrel. They also had half a dozen frag grenades each.

James spent a few minutes thinking on how to improve the load out and then realized the crew chief only had a sidearm. James shot him a questioning look through his un-polarized face shield and the man ventured inside the ship to retrieve his M7 sub machine gun standard issue.

All of the ODST wore Body Suits in all black which had built in heat and cooling systems to mask their signature. It was pressurized for space use and had a fifteen minute supply of air for use in a vacuum. The newer helmets had state of the art communications gear along with a Head Up Display with Thermal and motion detectors. They all wore the standard suit but the three older members had personal decorations on theirs. James had a cobra coiled to strike on his chest piece and they all sported the Chinese symbol for badass on the right side of the suit. The rookies were the only ones with their names still stenciled legibly on their suits and without blood type on it.

James was checking over his team one final time before transmitting to the UNSC Kiowa about their status. He doubted he had the power after such a harsh landing but he would try. Suddenly plasma bolts started flying over their head as a half dozen Ghost came in view. The Ghost was the standard ground gun platform used by the Covenant and was lightly armored.

"Take cover," he shouted as he crouched in the opening of the ship. His men scattered into kneeling and prone positions around the ship and in a depression not far away. "Bunker!" he shouted, "Take out those Ghost, and make it quick." He watched as Bunker raised his rocket launcher and triggered two quick shots before reloading. The lead ghost went up in flames and the driver of the one behind it was tossed off by fragmentation splash of the second round. Four left, James hummed to himself suddenly in a good mood, headache gone. He raised his sniper rifle in one fluid motion and shot the third driver through the head. The Elite flying it collapsed onto the controls and it turned to the side colliding with a fourth ghost which caused James to be way off on his second shot.

Bunker had reloaded now and took out the fourth ghost as its driver regained control. James took out the driver of the fifth one and Bunker took out the sixth one completely destroying it. That done James tried to raise the Kiowa. He got no reply but heard a call for his team. He tried again.

"UNSC Kiowa, this is Corporal James Dawn of Delta 438," he called.


	2. Arrival

Arrival

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James took off at a jog headed toward the downed ship they were supposed to investigate. It was a small frigate with barely a company of marines left on board after deployments and they had been cut down significantly during recent fighting. All communication had been cut off after the communications array had been shot off. Nobody on the ground had responded either when hailed. It had barely a company of marines left as ship defense after recent deployments and that was the smallest company of the regiment greatly depleted by casualties.

They were being chased by several hundred Covenant troops themselves and James hoped to find re-enforcements at the downed War Games. If not they would probably be trapped and cut down. James grimaced at the thought as he continued shooting while trying to report to the Kiowa, where he was speaking to Captain Ambrose directly. He and Bunker had managed to eliminate all of the Brutes as they had charged on all fours after the Ghost had been eliminated. No the Elites were the biggest problem as it didn't seem like they had any snipers among them.

As James and his team approached the ship they were surprised to run into a picket of Marines in fighting holes and crew members manning turrets and holding whatever weapons they could get.

"Corporal," a Lance Corporal Wilson nodded to him as his team passed the forward positions. "I've radioed Gunny Jordan that you're on your way in. Welcome to the party," he said with a forced smile.

James looked them over as he passed. They were all banged up pretty bad and one corpsman even had his own arm in a sling as he tried to look after others. He was met at the airlock by Gunny Jordan who flashed a smile at him and greeted him warmly.

"Bout time we got some real fighters here," he said loudly, "This bunch probably couldn't fight a cold." Those within hearing distance let out a laugh.

James nodded a greeting and got straight to the point, "OIC?" he asked. Gunny Jordan nodded.

"We lost the entire bridge crew on a direct hit. We only had a Lieutenant running our company, rest were already dead," he spat on the ground, "We got a couple Lieutenants from the ship crew but their mostly useless. I let them feel important by being in charge of a couple sailors in sections of the ship."

"If they get inside the ship," James said, "Their going to hunt us down. We've taken out quite a few but theirs hundreds to begin with."

"Brought company?" Gunny Jordan asked and James gave him nod, "Re-enforcements?"

"We're it for now," James told him.

"I've got some thirty odd Marines, and about a hundred sailors," Gunny Jordan said. "There all brave enough and we've got plenty of ammo, but I'm bettin' you've been around this war a bit to know what I'm tryin' to say." James gave him a sharp nod. "I know," he said quietly.

He knew that the Covenant would chase them through the ship and over power them by sheer numbers or simply send in a couple pairs of Hunters or a couple squads of Brutes and it would be over. Inside the ship would be close quarters, melee territory, which was decidedly in the Covenants favor.

"Do you have any comm. at all?" James asked.

"We've got the communications officer working on riggin' up somethin'," Gunny Jordan said, "You should probably meet him anyways seein' as how he's the rankin' officer here."

James nodded and leaving Bunker in charge took Tyler with him as he made his way into the bowels of the ship to meet the communications officer. James studied the ship as he walked through it. Everything that wasn't bolted down had been tossed. Meals were on the floor in one Mess Hall and several sections of the ship were burned out while other had live wires hanging through them or the lights were out.

"Lieutenant Tyson is the communications officer," Gunny Jordan said making conversation as they walked, "He's a decent enough guy for an officer."

They entered a hanger where a crew of sailors was working under the supervision of a tall lanky lieutenant with sharp features and dark hair. Gunny Jordan called out to him to gain his attention.

"This is Corporal Dawn, sir," he said, "We now have six ODST and a crewmember of a downed Pelican who was flyin' them here."

James nodded a greeting, "How're you sir?"

"Tired, and worried," Lieutenant Tyson said, "Are you the advanced party or the re-enforcements?"

"Both, I think," James said, "My Staff Sergeant who was the team leader died on impact along with the assistant team leader. Right now we're all you're gonna get until the ground battle calms down. Once it does then we're gonna get out of here."

"Well we'll just have to hold then won't we," he said. "Gunny Jordan could use you. Most of his men are fresh from boot camp. Never seen combat, isn't that right Gunny?"

"That's correct sir," Gunny Jordan responded. He turned to James, "You use your men as best you know how but, I would like a few outside."

"We'll all stay outside to boost your men," James said, "Most of us are riflemen. I'll post myself in an overview position with my sniper rifle. Do you have any snipers Gunny?"

"None, like the Lieutenant said, these guys are all either boots or on the verge of shellshock," Gunny Jordan responded, "The few vets I have are on the verge of shellshock if not already there."

James nodded, "Oh and by the way," he grinned behind his helmet, "I have comm. with Kiowa if you want me to send any messages jump on a mike and send it to me."

"Thank you Corporal," Lieutenant Tyson said, "But ours is ready to turn on now. We'll be transmitting shortly."

James nodded and left, already speaking to his men over their comm. link.


	3. Fight

The Fight

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

"They're here," the call came over the comm. link. "Several hundred looks like, all on foot."

It had been only a quarter hour since James and his men arrived at the downed ship and in that time he had allowed his men to scatter to where they felt they would be most effective. He was posted on top of the ship where he could see over the battlefield. To his right by ten paces was an escape hatch where he could get inside the ship if the front was overrun. The first thing he saw was a pair of Marines hauling ass back to the ship on a Mongoose ATV. Next he saw a pair of Banshees pursuing them. The several 50mm Point Defense Guns not destroyed opened fire on the incoming Banshee ships taking them down in a matter of seconds. All of them clicking empty by time the last Banshee dropped from the sky.

James chuckled as he watched through his helmets zoom, "Hopefully that's all their air support."

"Yeah," Bunker said, "Now we just gotta worry about Wraith Tanks."

"Yeah," Tyler said, "We're out of anti air guns, aren't we?"

"Yep," James replied, "That's why I said hopefully that was it. Ground troops we can handle even if they come in hundreds. Air and armor support we might as well draw back into the ship."

They were speaking over their team link and couldn't be heard by anybody other than ODST, which is why Tyler now risked asking his questions.

"Can we win Corporal?" was all he dared ask.

"Yes," James told him simply, "But it'll be a close one. It'll be a fun one though." He said the last with a chuckle.

"Is Corporal Dawn crazy," Fatima asked over the link.

"You try going through half the things we've done and see if you don't go a little crazy," Donald told him. James chuckled at the declaration and said, "If you boots live past today then maybe you'll get to do some of the fun stuff we've done."

"It must be a shitty day for you guys," Menendez spoke up.

"How so," Bunker asked.

"You and Donald and Corporal Dawn had been with some of those guys for a while and you had to watch them die in a pelican crash," Menendez said, "Died in an accident, no glory in an early death."

"That's enough," Dawn said sharply, "We all learn at the start that you cannot dwell on others. When the war is over we will mourn our fallen but until then we have to push it aside and fight to live."

"Wow, Corporal," Donald said, "That was deep, almost philosophical."

"Shut your mouth," James told him as the whole team chuckled. "Look to your front we've got scouts on the way." He had spotted several dozen Jackal scouts approaching on a front several hundred yards wide coming up a hill. "I'm gonna have some fun until they come into range."

"You do that Corporal," Bunker said.

James lay down and used his bipod to steady his rifle. He settled the crosshairs on the opening in a shield and steadied his breath before squeezing off his shot. The Jackal was blown back and the round bounced off of the next shield in its path causing it to die. James blasted that Jackal too. He picked them off as fast as he could and enjoyed doing it. He had eliminated half of them by the time the main party arrived headed by a score of Elites. He then started to pick them off and had gotten three by time they realized what was happening.

They surged forward and began deploying shields to hide behind, while they sent the pair of Hunters forward supported by hundreds of grunts. James took aim at one of the Hunters before shooting it in the face which put it down. The second one howled in anger and charged forward again.

"Incoming Grunts, by the hundreds," James said over an open link, "The elites are down to seventeen and shouldn't be much of a problem. There's only one Hunter left and a dozen Jackals. I'll keep sniping, but they'll be in range soon."

By the time the Covenant forces reached the forward Marines, James had taken out the second Hunter and a pair of Elites. When the machine gun and assault rifles opened up James continued sniping as many Jackals and Elites as he could but missed more often as they began dodging to avoid him. As the Marines began dying and were forced to pull back to ship little by little, James fired more often until he had shot all the ammo he had brought to the fight.

He dropped through the air lock next to him and slung his rifle as soon as his feet touched the ground. He racked his shotgun with a smirk as he ran down the hall and ladder ways to the air lock that the Marines and Sailors were now streaming through. His team was the last one through with Donald and Tyler both sporting slight plasma burns.

James gave them a chuckle and they all returned it as they started to push barriers around the air lock to block it. James called to Gunny Jordan as his men pushed the last ones in place.

"We'll hold them here for as long as we can," James told him, "Send us a fire team with a couple crates of grenades and ammo, or as much as can be spared."

"On its way," Gunny Jordan sent back.

Grunts were streaming in by the dozen and being cut down by automatic fire in a genuine turkey shoot. "Looks like fun," a Lance Corporal shouted as his fire team approached the barrier carrying several crates of fragmentation grenades and another of loose ammunition.

James gave them a loud chuckle, "Join in the fun."

They spent almost an hour picking them off as they flooded into the ship through the airlock. The assaults into the ship started to slacken and James used all the down time to reload all of his magazines and had his men to do the same.

"Hopefully they don't turn left into the airlock and run around the corner," Menendez said to no one in particular.

"Hah," Bunker said, "If we don't get them Corporal Dawn will whip out his rifle and make them wish we had."

"No," James said slowly, thinking. "It still might happen, and just one will cause us problems because we'll have to hunt it down." He keyed his mike, "Gunny, what about putting a blocking force at the corner in front of our position?"

"I'm headed your way now," was all the reply he got. Ten minutes later Gunny Jordan was standing beside James and eyeing the corner.

"If a squad sets up back there with barriers a few feet past the corner," James was presenting his case, "They'll be safe from us and surprise any that try to hide around the corner."

"A squad huh, what makes you think they'll need that many?" he asked James.

"A Marine fire team backed by a dozen sailors, armed with close quarters weapons," James elaborated on his thoughts.

"That'll work," Gunny Jordan allowed, and keying his mike called for a sergeant who was his acting second.

As Gunny Jordan turned the corner to make his way back to the command and control center in the middle of the ship, a dozen Jackals erupted from the airlock shields in front ready to repel fire. What they got was a half dozen grenades and several burst of gunfire after the last one refused to die.

"Too easy," crowed one of the Marines. The ODST were all silent and listening for a follow up attack.

When nothing happened after a few moments they began to ease up and go back to whatever it was they were doing. James continued to watch the airlock. 'I really want to go up top to snipe some more," he thought. 'But I can't leave these guys here. Team leader is no fun.'

"UNSC War Games, this is Delta 428 come in over," was what James heard over his head set. He listened tensely as Lieutenant Tyson answered.

"I've got three other ships with me we're gonna fly you guys out, over," the pilot said. "Got a place we can land?"

"Corporal Dawn, come in, over," Lieutenant Amy Dawn called over his team link.

He keyed his mike and answered, "This is Dawn."

"You have orders to access the ships bridge and reclaim the AI cube or to verify its destruction," she told him, "You're also to set a Havoc Nuclear device inside the ships core to ensure its total destruction."

'What the fuck,' James thought before answering, "Roger on the move."

James relayed his orders to Gunny Jordan who wished him luck and took off at a sprint to the hanger where the Pelicans were landing. He accepted a pair of Havoc Nukes from one of them and gathered his team close as they watch sailors climb aboard the waiting Pelicans.

"Bunker, take Menendez and Fatima with you to the core and set both these to detonate in a half hour," he hated to split up but if they didn't they would miss the birds. "I'm taking Donald and Tyler to the bridge." He eyed them in their suits. "Stay safe gents, we've lost enough men today. The blocking force will hold long enough around the air lock for us to get out so don't waste time."

James watched as Bunkers crew took off for the reactor room in the center rear of the ship. With a sigh and mentally crossed fingers he let his two off to the bridge. Hopefully they all made it out alive.


	4. Flight Part One

Flight

(Part One)

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

Bunker led Menendez and Fatima down the long corridors following the map presented to him on his HUD. They were approaching the reactor core when five red dots appeared on his motion tracker. He halted the other two and dropped into a crouch peering into the darkness ahead. He activated his night vision and a sudden motion caught his attention in a door way. It was a maintenance access way and the dots were inside it. He reached to his belt for a grenade and a sudden blast of plasma erupted from the darkness.

He cursed and hit the deck, hearing a garbled scream behind him he resisted the urge to turn around and began spraying the opening with his submachine gun. Finally pulling the pin on the grenade he lobbed it into the opening and ducked his head against the blast. It blew in a great eruption of noise and he scanned the area again, finding the red dots were gone. He turned to see what had happened behind him to find Fatima lying face first on the deck his helmet burned away, face melted and brain bubbling.

Shuttering, he and Menendez quickly stripped the body of weapons and gear and continued on their way. 'The ship was secure,' he thought to himself. 'Wonder if there's any other down this way.' He keyed his mike.

"Corporal, we lost Fatima," he was always as blunt as possible.

"Shit," was the reply, "I'm assuming enemy presence is light down there?"

"Yes, Corporal we're continuing on with the mission," he radioed back.

"Take no more chances then you have to," was all he got back from Corporal Dawn.

"Roger that," Bunker said sincerely. He looked at Menendez and could imagine his frightened look. "You okay?"

"Fuck no," was the answer in a sudden outburst.

"It gets worse," Bunker said turning away, "Much, much worse."

They both dropped into a shooters walk and continued in an even more, if it was possible, alert mindset. Bunker was scared but determined to survive and Menendez shivering slightly out of fright.

It was another ten minutes before they entered the reactor room, where Bunker radioed his team leader.

"Corporal Dawn, permission to set a forty five minute timer?" Bunker asked.

"No," was the quick reply. "Set it for thirty and haul ass back to the birds wait until the twenty five minute mark and leave without if you have too."

"Yes Corporal," Bunker responded.

"Was that gunfire in the background?" Menendez asked him quietly. Bunker nodded and set about to arm the devices. Dropping both on the deck next to the reactor he nodded to Menendez and both set out sprinting for the hanger which would be their salvation.

***

They were a single hall way from the hanger when a sudden burst of gunfire caught their attention. It was followed by a roar and then a scream. Bunker gripped his M7 sub machine gun tightly and turned the corner towards the scream and ran nose to nose with a very surprised, but very angry Elite in red armor.

"Oh shit," was all he managed to say before a fist came crashing into his side slamming him into the opposite wall. He felt his ribs break and his snapped back on impact dazing him. Menendez opened fire on the Elite before he was cracked in the head by a melee blow from the Plasma Rifle in the Elites hand. His visor cracked and he hit the deck hard and just stared as the Elites boots came down on his head. His helmet was all that saved him until Bunker opened up with his submachine gun. The Elite howled in anger and turned to finish off Bunker who pulled his pistol and fired both until they ran dry. No time to reload he dropped them and pulled his combat knife.

'It might be useless but it's better than nothing,' he thought as he braced to fight the Elite. A single shotgun blast took the Elites head off and it collapsed at Bunkers feet. He watched in a trance as three ODST's swarmed into the hallway taking out the Grunts that he hadn't noticed. As the brief fight finished he turned to Menendez and saw that he been knocked unconscious.

"Grab him and go Bunker," James told him. "Head for the hanger we'll give you a few minutes start."

Bunker nodded and managed to get Menendez in the hanger in time to board the last Pelican where he collapsed on the floor alongside him. It had been a long day and his ribs were throbbing and caused him to gasp in pain at every movement. He was alive though, and that was more than Fatima or Staff Sergeant McPherson or any others could say.

He sat up as his remaining three team mates came aboard and yelled over the comm. link for the Pelican to take off. He grinned with relief; they were on the way out of this great big mess. 'Fuck my life,' he thought with a grin.


	5. Flight Part Two

Flight

(Part Two)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Halo)

James watched in anticipation as the Elite and twenty or so Grunts with a pair of Jackals wandered into the mess hall from the door opposite him. He, Tyler, and Donald were all crouched in a darkened doorway and monitoring their HUD's as well as watching.

"I count twenty-three, Corporal," Tyler said unnecessarily.

"Yup," James said thinking quick. "When they get about halfway across I'm going to lob a pair of grenades at them. Then Donald will lob a pair after those first two go boom. Tyler you're going to cover us while we move forward."

"Ready to use that shotty?" Donald asked with a chuckle. James answered him with a dry chuckle of his own.

When the Elite was a little ways past the half way point; James lobbed both grenades slightly past him and ducked as they blew up. The first pair took out several of the tightly packed Grunts and both Jackals. The second pair took out over half the remaining Grunts leaving only eight which Tyler started picking off ruthlessly with controlled, well aimed burst of fire. James darted into the room with Donald close behind.

He closed on the Elite who roared a challenge at seeing him. James grinned behind his face mask as he opened the Elites rib cage with a blast from his shotgun. He racked the gun and gave him another to the head for good measure as he passed. He stood there feet planted racking and firing it as fast as he could acquire targets. Donald came up behind him firing in short burst from his submachine gun. Within moments all the Covenant troops were down.

Tyler moved warily into the room to join James and Donald. "That was insane," he said in an awed voice as he looked at the destruction they had caused. "These Covenant bastards aren't so bad."

"Not like this," James allowed, "But when you've got a trio of Elites backed up by over fifty Grunts and a half dozen Jackals then it becomes a problem. We got lucky with this one." Bunker came over the radio then informing him of Fatima's death and he tried to hear both conversations at once.

"Corporal, we lost Fatima," Bunker was blunt as always.

"Shit," James said, "I'm assuming enemy presence is light down there?"

"Yes, Corporal we're continuing on with the mission," Bunker radioed back.

"Take no more chances then you have to," was all James said before turning back to Donald and Tyler.

"Roger that," Bunker said sincerely.

"Yup," Donald said still talking to Menendez, "Take out the Elites and then the Jackals. Take out the Grunts as you have to or leave them to regular Marine infantry. The Elites are the commanders."

"So it's kinda like cuttin' the head off the snake then?" Tyler asked.

"Something like that," James allowed, "Let's keep moving the bridge is right down the main hall on the other side."

"How do you think they got this deep in the ship Corporal?" Tyler asked.

"No telling," James said, "Bunch of other airlocks on this ship not to mention the few windows are probably all busted out."

"Like in the bridge," Donald said pointedly.

"Yes, like in the bridge," James said with a sigh. 'Fuck my life.'

***

They were even luckier then James had originally thought because it was a straight shot to the bridge from exiting the mess hall. And it was empty. 'Finally something went somewhat right today.' He was tired all of a sudden, the adrenaline slowing. He left his men in a doorway and approached the bridge doors. One was partially open and looked to have been cut, but James couldn't be certain because the whole thing looked to be charred.

"Definitely could've come in this way," James called over the comm. link.

He stood along the wall and carefully peaked into the room. He waved for his men to come forward and then entered the room in a rush. Nothing, it was clear of enemy personnel. James stood at ease and scanned the room noticing that the windows were in fact blown out and several corpses still remained strapped to their chairs where they had died.

"Uh, Corporal Dawn," Tyler said uneasily. James' motion tracker had begun showing red dots as soon as he spoke.

"You two handle our uninvited guest until I finish," he told them. The dots suddenly began multiplying and James cursed before turning to toss Donald his remaining grenades. "Hold them," was all he said before turning his attention back to the bridge. He found the podium for the AI crystal as soon as the firing began.

As he was pulling the crystal Bunker came over the radio asking for permission to alter the time on the Nukes.

"No," was all he had time to answer before dodging a plasma blast. "Set it for thirty and haul ass back to the birds wait until the twenty five minute mark and leave without us if you have too." He still hadn't told Donald and Tyler about Fatima and didn't plan to until they were safely out of there.

He pocketed the crystal and turned back to his men. "Alright, time to go," he said.

"Uh, maybe you should look outside," Tyler said. Donald laughed.

"This is our time to shine," he said, "Just watch and learn kid."

James was grinning ear to ear and pulled a small explosive charge the size of his fist from his gear. It was studded with ball bearing. Tyler just stared at it.

"I've got a half dozen of these babies," James told him. "Always leave 'em with a bang."

He tossed it into the hallway and detonated it before tossing another right after it, detonating that one while it was still in the air. He charged out, shotgun at the ready and began blasting everything that moved in the smoky haze.

Tyler was in shock as they ran straight through the enemy forces left after the two blast. He ran right behind Donald who was right on Corporal Dawn's rear. 'Freakin' insane,' was all he could think.

They were halfway back before James slowed down from a dead sprint. He was winded but didn't want to stop completely. They were one turn away from the hanger when they spotted two green dots in front of a dozen red ones. They heard the roar and James sped up, turning the corner in time to watch Bunker being advanced on by an Elite.

James didn't stop as he sent the eight gauge shell into the Elites head. It dropped and the three of them systematically destroyed the remaining Covenant troops. James sent Bunker on his way carrying Menendez even though he knew he was hurt, but he couldn't afford to give up somebody who was perfectly good enough to fight. They managed to board the Pelican and were exiting atmosphere when the ship blew.

James laughed, "Think about how surprised they must be."

"Yeah, for all of two seconds," Donald said.

The rear ramp closed as they started pushing for space. They made it back to the Kiowa and put Bunker and Menendez into the hands of waiting Corpsmen.

"Where's Fatima?" Tyler asked looking around for him.

"He's dead," James said as Donald let out a huge sigh. They all three removed their helmets and tucked them under their arms after shouldering their weapons.

"That's shitty," Tyler said morosely, "We were in the same company at boot camp. Used to run into him at the ODST School too."

"Yeah," Donald said, "Join the club. My brother went down a few years ago, and a half dozen friends from high school are all dead too. Just wait, and if you survive you'll be missing half your class at the ten year re-union."

James walked off to the medical clinic on board ship to check on his two men.

"Corporal Dawn," Donald said in a low voice, "Has his Uncle, only cousin, and only sister serving too. Not to mention he's lost almost every friend he's ever had."

"That's tough," Tyler said looking at his corporals back.

"Yep," Donald allowed, "Now let's forget this sad shit and get some chow."

"I want a shower first," Tyler said as they headed for their teams room.

"Weapon, chow, then you," Donald pointed out.

"Yeah," Tyler sighed as Donald headed for the tables to clean weapons.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: I know its a lot longer then Part One, but there is always more to tell with the main character. I'm working on the continuation which is in full swing so please be patient. If you enjoy the story or have any comments or thoughts at all about it please do leave me a review. Any suggestions for events or characters are welcome and appreciated as well, I can always use them later when I get writers block.

* * *


	6. Relaxing

RELAXING

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James entered the hospital bay and saw a doctor standing over Menendez checking his vitals. His dark complexion was pale and his dark wavy hair stood out even more than usual. He was still unconscious, so James turned to find Bunker. He was conscious and looked up at James as he approached, wincing slightly as a corpsmen wrapped his ribcage tightly.

"We'll be okay," he said as James approached, his white teeth showing against his black face.

"I know," James said smiling as well. His faintly tanned face turned to concern as he glanced over to Menendez. His crystal blue eyes betraying his worry, as he scratched his light brown hair.

"He'll be fine," Bunker said as the corpsmen finished with his ribs. "He just got hit too hard.

"Yeah," James said quietly taking a seat by Bunkers bed.

They sat quietly watching the doctor treat Menendez. When he was done the doctor turned around to find James sitting there. He approached them looking them both over, pausing to check Bunker's ribs before turning to James.

"Are you their NCO?" he asked and James nodded.

"I'm Corporal Dawn, temporary team leader," he introduced himself. "Can you tell me how he is?" He nodded to Menendez.

"He'll be fine, but he needs a couple days of rest," the doctor said. "He'll need to stay overnight and then three days on light duty status before his follow up. If he's doing good; which I expect him to be fine, he'll be cleared for full duty." James nodded his understanding making a mental note to bring Menendez back.

"And this guy?" James asked thumbing to Bunker.

"A week of no duty after overnight observation," the doctor said eying him, "then light duty for a couple weeks until those ribs are fully healed."

"Good to go, sir," James said rising from his seat. "I'll be back in the morning to pick these guys up. I think they'll need a bath though." He said with a smile causing the doctor to laugh along with Bunker.

He hitched his shotgun back up on his shoulder and picked his sniper rifle up off the floor where he'd set it on its bipod. He walked to straight to the armory and broke down his weapons, punching the bore and wiping down the working parts before reassembly. He turned them in and made his way to the squad bay room his team shared.

He was about to open the door when it opened and out rushed Lieutenant Amy Dawn. Her pale face outlined in black hair showed her worry and then surprise as she ran headlong into James. She jumped him hugging him close for a long minute which made James smile as he returned the hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she murmured into his shoulder where her face was buried despite the smell.

"Yeah," he said, "Me too."

She pulled away and punched him lightly on the shoulder before flashing him a grin. "I thought I was going to have to explain this to Aunt Theresa."

"Never," James said returning her grin, "I'm the sniper and we don't die." He was lying through his teeth but he doubted his sister had enough time in the Fleet to know. He didn't tell her that he was the close quarter's expert either. Footsteps approached from behind James and he turned to see Sarah Parker standing behind him.

"You remember Sarah, right?" Amy asked him, "From our high school and we went to college together too."

"Well duh," James said releasing his sister to give Sarah a big hug, "You two caused me no end of problems in school." The truth was that he'd once had a huge crush on the girl, but he was certain that neither of them knew. The only person he'd ever told was dead on Arcadia over two years ago.

"You two both come looking for me?" he asked and they nodded.

"Amy was close to panicking on the bridge," Sarah told him and James rolled his eyes at his sister.

"I've been doing this for over two years," he pointed out, "If anybody should be worried it should be me worrying about my boot sister."

"Well I'm on the ship," she countered, "You're on the planet which tends to get glassed by the Covenant as they leave."

He shrugged as if it was no big deal and made to enter the squad bay, "You two were coming in?"

They followed him inside where Donald and Tyler were already sitting in chairs using a footlocker to hold a card game. A wrapped tray of food had been placed on a desk along with a Styrofoam cup of juice. James paused to look over the squad bay, at all the empty bunks. It was a platoon sized squad bay meant to house upwards of fifty people easy, but recently it had housed twelve men with SSgt McPherson in the Platoon sergeants quarters in the rear of the squad bay. It had rows of bunk beds which were bolted to the floor and had a pair of foot lockers at the foot of each along with their shoe displays underneath, which was nothing more than extra boots with running and civilian shoes. The room was divided in half with twelve bunk beds on each side of a wide walkway in the middle. An open area in the front had chairs and several desk and was used as a common area until the space was needed for extra bunks. All the occupied bunks were in the front toward the common area where Tyler and Donald sat playing cards.

James walked to the front where he claimed a chair at the desk and took a deep whiff of the plate on it. "Mine right?" he asked them.

"Yes," Donald said distractedly, "You always forget to eat until we remind you, so I just brought it here this time." James nodded his thanks and fell on the food devouring it in his hunger.

Amy took a chair nearby and laughed at him. "Slow down, James it's not going anywhere."

"I haven't eaten all day," he told her as he paused to try the juice.

Both Donald and Tyler, he saw were eying Amy and Sarah in sidelong glances in between turns. Donald knew about Amy but hadn't seen her before and neither knew about Sarah.

"How're Menendez and Bunker doing," Donald asked looking up at James as Tyler dealt the next hand.

"Overnight observation and then a couple days light duty for Menendez," he said, "Bunkers going on no duty status for a while and then light duty until his ribs are healed."

"Would be like him," Donald said, "To skate out of work. Menendez is gonna pick up on his bad habits." James laughed along with Amy who had heard enough from James to know it was true, but also knew that James had been the same way.

"Who cares," James said, "Between me and Sergeant Kerner we kept all you guys off shit details. You guys spend most days sleeping."

"Yeah," Donald said slowly, "But since you're the only one with rank now we're gonna be in trouble."

James shrugged, "There are only five of us now and we don't do half the stuff the shipboard detachment does anyways so they'll leave us alone."

"Gunny Schuler already stopped by," Donald warned him. Gunny Schuler had been an ODST dropout a few years back and tried to cause them trouble every chance he got.

"What'd he want?" James asked carefully.

"Something about us reporting to him every morning for accountability and work details since we don't have a staff NCO now," Donald told him. James made a face.

"Did someone send him or did he come on his own?" James asked.

"Considering we just got back," Donald started, "Probably came on his own looking to take charge and shine. Fucking, ass kissing bastard that he is."

James grinned at the last part. "Yeah you're probably right.

"Who is Gunny Schuler?" Amy asked and James told her all about him. "He's been out to get us since we got on this ship. Now he's found a way."

She frowned and then spoke after a moment, "Its true he outranks you guys but you have a different mission then he does so ultimate responsibility would go to you as the senior man of the team."

"I know," James said, "but he's one of those that likes the power and likes to look good. If he can claim that he lead an ODST team most will look on that as a good sign of leadership, which he sucks at. He makes stupid decisions and then yells at his NCO's after the officers yell at him for his decisions. He's like a retard banging his head on the wall even after he finds out it hurts, doesn't learn."

"Well you should probably nip that one in the bud," Donald advised and James nodded, "We will later when I go see Captain McNair. All of our affairs are funneled through his Headquarters section, he'll probably have us report to a Lieutenant for accountability each morning and then we'll do the same as we always do."

"I hope so," Donald replied, "I really hate that guy."

They sat for almost an hour just relaxing and talking with Amy and Sarah. James catching up with his sister. Donald and Tyler glad to see females after a day full of near death experiences. James left the four of them to go shower and changed into a pair of fresh grey fatigues without name tapes and propped his feet up on a foot locker to air them. It had been a long day.

He was enjoying the conversation and close to dozing off when the door to the squad bay opened and Captain Ambrose's aide entered the room. He looked to James spotting him by his rank insignia as the only Corporal present.

"Corporal Dawn?" he asked and receiving a nod he continued, "Captain Ambrose wants to see you in his quarters. Captain McNair will be present as well; looks like you guys are going planet side again." He turned and left and James let out a huge groan as he shook off the sleep that had been gripping him.

"Fuck us," Donald said throwing down his cards and walking to his bunk to check his suit over before laying it out to await orders. "We'll be ready. We'll look over your suit too to save time." James nodded and pulled on a pair of boots from under his rack before storming out of the room pulling his pistol belt on. Amy and Sarah left right behind him; they had to get some sleep before their next shifts.

"He can't send them out again so soon," Amy contended to Sarah, "They've been up all day."

"I'm sure they're just getting orders tonight and planning," Sarah reassured her friend, "They probably won't go until morning." Amy sighed and crossed her fingers in a silent prayer. The two friends parted ways at Amy's room and she fell into her bed unable to sleep from worry.


	7. Back to the Fight

Back to the Fight

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James strode down the deck hallways until he reached the Captains quarters and knocked politely trying to contain his irritation. He was ready for bed, but he had a feeling that he was about to miss sleeping this cycle. The door was opened by Captain Ambrose who greeted him with a weary smile. James thought he looked on edge and was immediately on guard.

"Welcome Corporal, please come in," the captain said graciously, "I assume you've met Captain McNair." James nodded and eyed the young captain before turning his attention back to Captain Ambrose, who seated himself behind his desk. "I've got some bad news for you Corporal."

"Planet getting glassed bad, or another mission bad?" he asked with a wry grin. The Captain's both responded with a chuckle.

"Good to see you in somewhat of a good mood," Captain Ambrose admitted, "I had thought you'd be morose and depressed after such heavy losses." James just shrugged and waited.

"War Games managed to get out a dozen life pods before crashing," Captain Ambrose explained. "Six have been picked up without problems, their members banding together until we could get there. Four were found without survivors, some killed in the crash others possibly killed by the Covenant before our arrival. A squad was dropped to one of these four and was wiped out by a large force of Covenant along with the survivors. We have two others we need to pick up and luckily enough they crashed fairly close to each other. They were moving to join forces when one group was intercepted and pinned down in a valley. They have a good defensive position but the enemy presence is still heavy. The other group made it to the rendezvous point where they were then pinned down and find themselves in the same circumstances. We need re-enforcements to rescue the first group and then evacuate them before continuing on to the second group. Want the job?"

"I only have two men fit for duty sir," James pointed out. The Captain lowered his eyes in thought.

"I can give you however many you need," Captain McNair said to both of them.

"We drop you and whichever men are fit for duty," Captain Ambrose said planning it as he went. "If we catch the Covenant by surprise could you clear us a landing zone for a squad of Marines to assist?"

"Possibly," James allowed, "I can make four if Menendez is released from medical. Bunker is broke so he can't go." He turned to Captain McNair. "I don't suppose we could ask for volunteers to drop with us?"

"It never hurts to ask Corporal," he answered, "But be ready to go by yourselves." James nodded his understanding. Most Marines thought the ODST to be crazy.

"We go now sir?" James asked and received a nod, "Thirty minutes we can be in our pods ready to launch."

"Can you be ready any faster?" Captain Ambrose asked and James paused before answering.

"We probably will be but we have to function check our suits and then draw weapons and munitions before heading down to the pods," he explained, "Any volunteers can meet us there." He turned to Captain McNair, "We'll drop as soon as we get there so if they're any volunteers to drop with us we need to know before we get there."

Captain Ambrose stood up suddenly with an evil grin on his face, "Then let's get to it."

James returned his grin and turned for the door sprinting his way back to the squad bay where Donald and Tyler were already in their suits. "They radioed down for us to get ready," he explained helping James jump into his suit. The intercom crackled to life and they heard to announcement to general quarters.

"All hands to stations," said the ships AI over the intercom. "We will be dropping pods in twenty minutes. All hands to stations, first rotation to the bridge." The first rotation was the bridge crew that was on duty whenever the Captain was on. That meant that Amy and Sarah would be jumping into flight suits and running for their stations.

"Let's go," James said to his two men. "Donald go get Menendez from medical if he's not delirious. Meet us at the pods we'll have your weapons. We all have food right?" They both nodded. "Alright lets go." As they stormed out of the door Menendez came running up looking a lot better than he did earlier.

"Thought I was about to miss it," he said, "Doc didn't want to let me go so I just left." He said the last with a huge grin on his face.

"Uh-huh," James said, "Donald was about to come get you. We're heading to the armory."

They all ran for the armory where they drew weapons, grenades, and ammunition. Donald even grabbed a few mines with remote detonators. They all left with double ammo and grenades. They ran for the Human Entry Vehicle pods stowed in the bottom of the ship. This ship only had twenty but it was more than enough.

The ships AI came over the intercom in the room and spoke to James. "Captain McNair has six Marines coming to join you. They are drawing weapons now. Two squads are on standby with four Pelicans for pickup and air support. Captain Ambrose wishes you good luck." The intercom cut out and James began checking his teams gear stowed in their pods and made sure they were strapped in visually and physically checking all the safety features he could think of.

"Relax," Donald said through his helmet depolarizing it as James stuck his head in, "We'll be fine." James nodded and then spotted the six volunteers.

"Come here," he shouted to them. They approached him in the doorway of Donald's pod in the second position.

"I bet their all boots," Donald said to James who was unsurprised to find out that he was right.

"Have any of you seen combat before?" he asked and got no reply. "Take a look inside here. This is how you strap in. I'm going to check each of you before giving the clear to drop. The big button to your right is the door eject. When you land and clear your head you punch that to blow the door clear and come out shooting."

"Don't clench your teeth," Donald advised, "You'll be seeing the dentist afterwards if you don't knock yourself unconscious and miss the fight. Don't tense up, just go with it." He searched for some other piece of advice to give them before grinning. "And don't piss yourself either; it makes for a bad day when you can't change."

James shook his head and looked over their scared faces. "Get to a pod." He went behind them checking their safety features and explaining a few functions to them before sealing them in with a 'good luck'. He walked back along the row studying the names of his dead teammates stenciled on the doors of the pods. He paused at Menendez's pod fourth in line and read off Corporal Johnson's name out loud. "I'm sorry man," he whispered before passing his in the third position which now held Tyler and then Sergeant Kerner's which Donald was now in. He entered the first one which had been SSgt McPherson's pod.

He buckled in and sealed the door before activating the screens on either side of the door. Captain Ambrose showed on the left one with Captain McNair over his shoulder. Donald showed on his right screen. He would be showing with Captain Ambrose on all the other pods and could cycle through pods if he wanted to which he did with the right screen.

"We're ready sir," he said pulling on his helmet. Captain Ambrose nodded.

"I've never actually sent men into combat this way before," he admitted. "You launch in thirty seconds."

"Don't worry sir," James said, "Its actually kind of fun." He was nervous as hell and the captain knew it. The ten second countdown started.

"Good luck Marines," he said as James pod settled into the chute and was locked to fire.

"Three, two, one," the AI paused before saying, "Pods away."

James' jerked as the pod was shot out at incredible speeds for the planet's surface. He swallowed hard and tried to ignore the shaking jerking motion as the pod sped up even faster as it entered atmosphere. He kept his face calm and just breathed, wiping his mind of every other thought. They were headed for another fight and James cursed as he suddenly realize that he could lose more men this day.

***

Amy Dawn was wide awake when the call came across the intercom system. She jumped up and into her flight suit and was out the door in moments. She jogged to the bridge where she found Captain Ambrose assuming command from his executive officer. She relieved a junior Lieutenant from the Communications station and buckled herself in. When they were all present the Captain spoke to them all.

"I apologize for taking you from your beds," He said in a command voice while walking around the bridge so they could all have eyes on him. "But we're sending men into combat and I'll not sleep while our men our dying."

Amy was jerked to a sudden realization and locked eyes with Sarah. The countdown sequence began and it struck both of them with worry. Marines died just from the drops let alone being out numbered when they hit the ground.

Amy tried to concentrate on her work and linked to James pod where he was talking to Captain Ambrose. "Good luck," the Captain said and James polarized his face shield. She heard the final countdown and then launch. Her heart leapt into her throat as James jerked in his pod.

'Oh my god," she thought fighting the panic for who know how many times that day, 'He's going back in. He's really going.'

She watched him sit calmly in his pod as it jerked again entering atmosphere. She got a message from Sarah. 'All we can do is wait with our fingers crossed' the message said. She nodded and tried to stay calm. 'All I can do I wait and see.' She thought as she leaned back in her chair watching James in his pod.


	8. Feet First Into Trouble

FEET FIRST INTO TROUBLE

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James concentrated on his breathing as he dropped. Smooth steady breaths to keep his heart rate normal. He could see Donald sitting serenely in his pod, his eyes would be closed James thought. Tyler and Menendez would be a little nervous; they had never done an actual drop. School simulations were all they had ever done and the six volunteers had never done it at all. James could see their faces since they didn't have full head helmets on and the looks on their faces ranged from nervousness to one who looked like he was hyper ventilating.

He looked at the left screen and saw Captain Ambrose fade out to be replaced by Amy who would be their main point of contact on the ship for the mission. He next studied the distance to ground which was closing rapidly. He fell further and forced himself to stay loose and not tense up. He was jerked hard as his chute deployed and felt himself slowing slightly afterwards.

He slammed into the ground hard, jerking forward in the harness that kept him securely in place. Shaking his head he unbuckled quickly and reached for his sniper rifle which he secured on his back. His left hand reached down and grabbed the shotgun bringing it up to meet his right hand and racked it as he studied the camera outside for a quick second. Several plasma bolts bounced off the pod and he watched as the remaining pods hits the ground. He took a deep breath and slammed his hand onto the door eject button causing it to shoot off and plow right into an Elite rushing to investigate. Blood flew into the air and he ran out to the fight.

They had all dropped in the middle of the fight. The UNSC forces were on a hill with some rocks behind James and his men and several dozen Covenant troops were in front of them in some trees and rocks. 'Crap,' was his only thought as he slung his sniper rifle and racked his shotgun and running around his pod to the Marines up the hill. He heard other pods bust open and ducked in response to one flying over his head. The pod had landed on a rock and tilted sideways. James let out a chuckle as Donald tried to get out of it. He took a knee behind a rock to use it as cover and stabilized his sniper rifle across it. He began picking off anything that showed.

The Covenant fire slackened and then stopped suddenly and James watched as all but one made it up the hill. "Who?" was all he asked and Donald shrugged.

"I didn't really have time to learn their names," he said. He turned to the other five volunteers and asked for a name. Turning back to James he said, "McKinley."

James sighed and pulled up a screen on his H.U.D. where he marked the man as K.I.A. His team spread out to defend the hill and James re-slung his rifle to find the man in charge. It turned out to be a Marine Corporal James knew.

"I'll be damned," Corporal Birchler said as his H.U.D. identified James to him. "I haven't seen you in a minute."

"It's been a couple," James admitted reaching out to shake his hand. "I didn't even know you'd left third division."

"I didn't," Birchler told him, "We were on stand down on Reach when the call went out for the battle group and the battalion got tapped to go along with on from the fifth division then my company got picked for ship defense. The rest of the division should be behind us by only a few days. Now what're you doing here?"

"Same as you except they just sent my company," James explained, "We've taken heavy casualties and my team is pretty much gone. Came with thirteen and it's just me and four others left. Haven't heard anything about the other teams, but they're probably about the same as us." He paused before telling Birchler, "I was at the War Games and saw some of the ships company and I didn't recognize anybody."

"That's because we got our asses kicked," Birchler said, "Got a shit load of new guys, you know how it goes. I'm pretty much it from when you were there; I mean it has been over a year."

"Yeah," James said nodding. He wanted to ask what happened to the people he had known, but was sure he wouldn't like the answer. Birchler nodded his agreement and they stood silently looking down the hill.

"You know I thought about going ODST," Birchler said after a while, "But I figured I'd be dead in a few months anyways and kept putting it off. Now with the company pretty much gone I don't know what's gonna happen."

"It'll be rebuilt with all new guys," James said, "Now would actually be a good time for you to go ODST if you still want to. You won't have to feel like you're ditching the company when you should be training the new guy." James knew that a sense of responsibility to the newer guys was what had kept Birchler there; it was the same problem James had wrestled with before and after he made his decision.

They watched for enemy movement in front of them in silence once again and James eventually pulled out his sniper rifle while Birchler spotted for him.

"One beside that smaller rock to your two o'clock," Birchler called out and watched as James shifted and fired in one smooth motion not even pausing to shift back to his original position. It went like this for almost an hour before James could no longer find any targets.

"Three Elites, four Jackals, no Brutes," Birchler added them up.

"Yeah," James said, "Call for retrieval and let's get you guys out of here."

"Corporal!" James turned to look at Mendoza who was standing off to the left side down the hill from him. "Three drop ships on my eleven flying low into the trees."

"Two to our rear," Donald announced immediately after.

"Fuckin' shit!" James was not a poetic man but it fit the mood perfectly.

"Great," Birchler said sarcastically, "Just fucking great, awesome even." He sighed and began radioing the situation to his men while James contacted the Kiowa.

"UNSC Kiowa this is team three, come in over," he said and waited.

"This is the Kiowa, team three what's your situation?" answered a male voice, and James assumed Amy had been released from duty to sleep.

"Situation is goin to shit fast," James almost shouted, "Got five enemy ships dropping in around us, boo-ku enemy. I've got nine for me and seven survivors from the War Games."

"Watch you language team three," came the drawled response, "You are on official channels."

James went crazy, "Fuck you, bitch and your official channels," He was yelling over open frequency now, "Get me some goddamn air support now or when I get back I'm put my size twelve combats up your ass." He took a deep breath and added, "Where the fuck is the captain?"

"Right here Corporal," Captain Ambrose came over the link with a slight chuckle, "What's the problem?"

"I've got five ships dropping in around me," James' head snapped around as the Marines on the backside of the hill started shooting at a cyclic rate. It was going nuts down there. He looked up at the sun to see it going down and then to the front in time to see Donald and Tyler open fire on the tree line. "We're surrounded, only eighteen UNSC personnel here and possibly sixty plus enemy troops." He took a breath, "We could use some air support or arty if we can get it."

"It's on the way son," Captain Ambrose said.

The line went dead but James knew that the Captain would get him whatever he could. It was a damn mess he was in and said so to his men over their private link.


	9. The First Group

THE FIRST GROUP

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James looked up as the Longsword flight came barreling overhead. The pair banked hard left and leveled out before turning around to bomb the tree line. A pair of Banshee's showed up a few minutes later and a dog fight was going strong overhead when the Covenant made their move. James waited in anticipation as they trudged from the tree line. Almost eighty led by a pack of Brutes, one of them a chieftain who looked to be heavily scarred and turning grey. An Elite in red armor stood next to him and it was the Elite James tagged first.

The Chieftain didn't even blink as the bullet buzzed past him to explode the Elites head and merely waved his arm causing them to all charge forward. James fired as fast as he could, but suddenly the Banshee fighters were back and strafing the ground with plasma. He cringed as several Marines were vaporized by the hot plasma and emptied his sniper rifle as the Covenant troops closed in. A plasma bolt impacted on his face shield and caused it to bubble up and become useless. He broke the seal and dumped it on the ground. The Longsword fighters came back and drove the Banshees off as the Covenant began mingling with the Marines.

Racking his shotgun James began yelling his head off as he ran for the Chieftain who was now bashing in a Marines head. Blasting a pair of Grunts out of the way he bent down to pick up the first thing he could find, a plasma pistol and hit the Chieftain in the head to get his attention. The Brute looked surprised to find James standing there with a smirk fixed to his face.

"Try that on me, bitch," he yelled pulling a grenade and activating it. He threw it at the ground so it would bounce up. The Brute Chieftain growled at him and charged. A sudden look of utter confusion showed on his face as the grenade bounced up into his chest and exploded. James smirked as he watched in that split second before he ducked to cover his head.

Coming erect as soon as the blast subsided he was surprised to find the Chieftain still coming for him. The look of surprise turned to a wild one that even he would admit later was the crazy coming out. The Chieftain was missing his hammer and dropped to all fours to rush James.

"Come get it fur ball," he shouted gripping his shotgun tight, refusing to allow the fear to turn to panic. Right before the Brute impacted with him James pointed his shotgun down and fired at the beast head. They collided with a sickening crunch and James was thrown back hard knocking the wind out of James. His ribs were broken and he was sure his shoulder was dislocated.

He hit the ground hard, splitting his head open as it struck a rock. Fighting unconsciousness he racked his shotgun through it all and raised it to send a shell into the Brutes face as it tried to stand over him. The beast roared and reeled back, blinded by the blast. James racked and fired, racked and fired. Dropping the empty shotgun he pulled his twelve inch combat knife. He was in too much pain to think clearly as he ducked around the Brutes outstretched arms before jumping on its back. Stabbing it over and over again in the neck the Chieftain finally fell over dead.

Breathing heavily James felt a pair of hands grab on arm and another pair pulling on his suit, lifting him up. His vision was fading fast and all he could see were the three black suits over him as they laid him down. One used a field dressing to wrap his head and another checked his vitals while the third who was probably Donald communicated with the Kiowa in orbit.

The battle had all but fallen apart as soon as the Covenant had attacked. The Banshees had been shot out of the sky by the arrival of another pair of Longswords and the Covenant troops had been almost annihilated by strafing runs. When James had killed the Brute Chieftain the leadership had all but disappeared. They were still down the hill but they were hurting.

James had no idea what was going on, his head was swimming and it hurt to breathe and he was now beginning to feel several plasma burns on his legs and sides. He fought back the coming darkness but he knew he was losing it. The one that he thought was Donald leaned over him and said something. James struggled to focus his hearing.

"You stupid bastard," Donald said and James just grinned, "You're gonna live, but I hope it hurts. I'm working on evac right now, so don't wander off."

James just grinned at him. 'Where could I wonder off to?" he asked himself, "I'm all kinds of fucked up right now."

Menendez retrieved his shotgun and sniper rifle laying them beside James and calmly reloading them. At James' insistence Tyler propped him up against a rock so he could see what was going on around him. He saw half a dozen dead Marines mixed in with several dozen dead Covenant.

"Any of them ours?" he asked Tyler, who nodded.

"Three of them are," he shook his head, "I can't believe this. I've been in combat for less than a day and already had nine men die on me. I just can't believe it."

"Well you better get used to it," James said, "It only gets worse. Wait until you try to find somebody from boot camp, or school, or even from home. They'll be dead, or ruined for life." He was speaking very bitterly but suddenly grinned to Tyler. "If you live you'll have something to tell your kids though."

Tyler just shook his head and James allowed himself to relax while Donald took control of the situation. Birchler came over and knelt next to him. Shaking his head at James he sighed while reloading his weapon.

"You always were a pain in the ass," he told James, "Now you're decrepit." He gave him a smile and continued, "We've got a Pelican coming in to pick up my crew, and you are going to have to come with us."

"Nah," James said wheezing through a fresh wave of pain. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Birchler just shook his head but true to his work James was walking around a few minutes later. He was light headed and it hurt to breath but he was set on finishing the mission. It was ten minutes later when the Pelican's showed up and Birchler placed all his Marines on it one with the dead on another along with whatever fallen gear they saw.

James stood with Donald, who was wrapping his ribcage, and watched them take off. He sighed and looked around at his ODST and Marine volunteers. 'Only six of us left now,' he thought. Donald looked up at James as a third Pelican swooped down onto their position.

"Captain Ambrose wants us ride as close as we can to the second group," Donald said, a second Pelican showed behind the other one and they both paused long enough to release a pair of Warthog Light Reconnaissance Vehicle's, both armed with LAAG Machine Guns.

James shook his head and trudged towards the first one. "Well let's get this show on the road then." He winced as he lifted himself into the passenger seat of one. "Fuck this is just one long bad day."


	10. The Second Group

THE SECOND GROUP

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James sat in silent pain in the passenger seat of the Warthog, the wooded countryside flying past as Donald drove recklessly through it. Tyler did his best to hang on to the gun in the back and Menendez held on to the roll bar for dear life while the trio of Marines in the second vehicle did their best to keep up.

James was the only one without a H.U.D. and constantly bugged Donald about what was going on. The ground battle had intensified only thirty miles east of their present position and they could hear the occasional explosion and fighter plane.

"We're getting our asses kicked," Donald grumbled, "Like always, it's legions of Covenant troops against our measly brigade. They have better weapons and more support units."

"Stop bitchin' Donald," James told him, "I want to know how it's going not how it's going to end." James was always as pessimistic as Donald when it came to the end of the battle.

"They're pulling back to defend a city about twenty miles east of here," Donald relayed, "A fresh brigade has shown up in a new boat and is currently dropping in to fortify the city while the first brigade we came with pulls around behind the city to organize the evacuation before we leave this place to be glassed. I still don't know why we don't just get the hell out of here."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch, that's all you do," James said giving him a smile, "Must be making up for Johns since he's gone now."

"I'd rather not talk about people being gone, thank you very much," Donald said. James was about to reply when he ramped off the top of a hill and landed them hard into a small stream which they crossed.

"How much farther till we get there?" James asked.

"At this pace," Donald said musing, "Maybe ten minutes."

James shrugged off the impatience he was feeling and continued to fight off the pain of his ribs. He was sure only one or two were broke they were all bruised to hell and gone."

"Just think," he said to Donald, "Some officer is going to claim that hammer we sent back and make up some story about how he killed the Chieftain and claimed it." He gave a chuckle, "Poor bastard will probably never see one up close."

"Yeah well," Donald said, "You know you just made legend status. Taking down a Brute by yourself is hard enough, but you took down a Chieftain and with a knife."

"He was already dying," James pointed out, "And he was blind."

"Still," Donald insisted, "It's gonna spread and you're gonna be famous."

James shrugged uncomfortably and sat silent for the remainder of the ride, they turned to follow a ridge and Donald suddenly stopped a few feet short of a gap. He leaned forward to try and see better but several trees blocked the way.

"The navpoint is showing it to be in this valley," he told James, "And satellite shows this to be the only way in. Should we truck it or sneak in?"

James studied on it for a moment and then shrugged, "Fuck it."

Donald nodded and gunned the Warthog forward whipping it around the trees and into the opening. James propped himself up in his seat, his feet pushing hard against the dash in front of him to hold himself high in the seat. He rested the barrel of his sniper rifle on the windshield and scanned the area as best he could with the wind tearing into his eyes. Donald gunned the vehicle over a small dip in the ground and they were suddenly on flat ground with dozens of enemy troops surrounding them.

Donald let out a surprised yelp as he began to whip the Warthog back and forth running over as many as he could reach. Tyler tore into them with the Machine gun and Menendez opened fire as best he could then gave up to throw grenades. James took down a grunt and then Donald whipped to the right and an Elite was right in front of his scope. He fired and Donald whipped left this time putting a Jackal in the line of sight. Quickly finding the gap in the shield James fired before being whipped left again where he caught a pair of Grunts just standing there stupidly.

The second Warthog was in on the action now and they tried to mimic Donald's actions, but a plasma grenade blew off a tire and the vehicle tore into the ground before falling over. The driver was thrown from the Warthog during the blast and was crushed by it when it rolled. The remaining two Marines were thrown from their positions and found themselves at the mercy of the enemy. Donald shielded them with his vehicle while they ran for cover into a cave in the ridge wall. A pair of Marines beckoned them to hurry up. Donald was firing from the driver's seat while James fired over his head.

"Menendez!" James yelled, "Get in the cave." He watched out of the corner of his eye as Menendez dismounted and ran for it. When they were clear Donald began whipping the Warthog again, which was now smoking from the engine.

"I don't think our ride's gonna last much longer," he yelled to James, who nodded before yelling back.

"Drive it into the cave!" he yelled and Donald turned towards the cave. They almost made it before a Banshee came screaming overhead and fired at them. The blast took out the back two tires of the Warthog and Tyler screamed as the plasma splash extended to his legs.

At a halt now James hopped out, his ribs and head screaming in protest, grabbed Tyler and helped him hobble into the cave. Donald ran backward covering them as they went. James stumbled from the concussion of a blast and then again as a bolt of plasma ripped through his suit and burned his arm. Cursing his luck as he ran he managed to make it without getting hit again.

Dragging Tyler deep into the cave James deposited him in a safe spot in the back to be treated by a medic. Stumbling back to the entrance he snatched his sniper rifle off his back he sought to cover Donald but found it weirdly quiet. He watched for a moment before turning to see who he was with now. A Lieutenant still in his blue flight suit approached James.

"Lieutenant Walker, Corporal," he said offering a smile. "I have to say I'm glad to see you, but I do wish you weren't in this predicament with us."

James laughed, "Me too sir. I wish I had stayed home and never gone near the military."

"You're wounded," he said it more of a statement then as a question, but James answered anyways.

"Plasma burns, one or two broken ribs, and a split head that hurts like hell," he commented with a wry smile. "Is there a back way out of here?"

"I haven't had a chance to look. I've got three sailors and four Marines," Lieutenant Walker said, "Exploring this cave was on the bottom of my priority list."

"Yes sir, but I'd like to send a man to look to the back if it's ok with you," James said.

Lieutenant Walker shrugged, "I might be an officer, but I think this is more your area of expertise then mine."

"Yes sir," James chuckled, "I reckon it would be."

"Holy fuck!" was all James heard his head pounding painfully as he turned to the front of the cave. A sailor on watch was standing there shaking in fear.

"What is it?" James demanded. It took a moment for the sailor to turn to meet his eyes.

"Tanks, Corporal. Great bloody tanks, coming right up our ass," he struggled to remain calm and James replaced him on watch with Donald.

"Use that laser you've been carrying all day," James told him, "Keep Menendez here to watch too."

He turned to find a pair of Marines, a Private First Class and a Lance Corporal, and sent them to explore the back of the cave.

He gave Lieutenant Walker a look and said, "I think our day just got worse, sir."


	11. Back to the Kiowa

Back to the Kiowa

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James would later admit that it was probably a dumb idea, but it wasn't like he had much choice. He led a fire team out of the cave and straight into the chaos that was war. He lost himself for over an hour in an endless killing spree. Donald would eliminate a tank while James and the other Marines would take out the ground troops. Then another tank would show up and the process would repeat.

He was really hurt now, so was everybody in fact. Three Marines and three sailors lay dead in front of the cave. Lieutenant Walker was now missing his left arms below the elbow and Tyler was barely able to walk at all. The whole of Team three was close to dropping from sheer exhaustion. It was going on twenty four hours since they had been alerted to drop onto the War Games. They were all hurt too. Besides Tyler's wounds from the plasma splash and James' earlier wounds in the fight with the Chieftain, Donald now had part of his suit fused to his skin and Menendez was lucky to be alive after taking a shot to the chest. James had been hit again himself and was freely admitting to Donald that he was almost done for.

"Come on Corporal," Donald urged, "You'll be fine, you always are. You have some extreme luck and a million deities looking out for you. Even the Covenant gods are probably on your side."

"It would be nice to think that," James said, "But if we don't get out of here in the next couple hours then we're done. I'm all kinds of fucked up, Tyler and Menendez will be scarred for life if not crippled and the Lieutenant is going to be lucky to stay in the navy. Not to mention half of everybody is dead." He sounded bitter at this last part. "Only good part is you guys are all alive."

"Like I said," Donald reiterated, "You're lucky as no other man has the right to be."

James just shrugged as he pulled his last magazine out of his rifle to check it. One in the magazine and one in the chamber, his shotgun was already completely empty. His train of thought was broken by a familiar sound.

"Pelicans," he said and Donald looked at him like he was going crazy. There it was again, the sound caused James to smile.

Donald heard it that time and joined James in smiling. "God I'm ready to get out of here." He tilted his head as he listened to something over his communication system. "It's our pickup. We're to return to the Kiowa and await further orders."

"We have to move fast," James said standing, "Everybody get ready to bug out!"

When the lone Pelican came in to pick them up they managed to grab every dead human and haul them aboard too. Within a minute they were back up in the air and zooming past the two escort ships headed for space. James sat on the floor next to the cockpit entrance and propped himself against the wall. He was done, his whole team was.

When they docked with the Kiowa a group of Marines came into the Pelican to grab the dead and help out the wounded. James made them take Tyler and the Lieutenant first then everybody else. They were all wounded and so James waited until he was last. He tried to get up and found that his body refused to listen. A Marine stuck his head into the troop area.

"Need any help?" the man asked.

"If you don't mind," James replied wearily and the Marine walked up the ramp to him.

"Not at all," he said pulling James to a standing position and supporting him as he walked.

When he got to the Medical bay he found everybody else already being looked after. He was immediately poked and prodded by doctors and put into a bed where he waited for treatment. His head was stitched up and his ribs re-wrapped, his burns treated with ointment. He fell asleep within moments after the pain stopped.

***

He hurt all over, every inch of his body. Even his eyes hurt from dryness and that bright ass light in his face didn't help either. James opened one eye and tried to say 'turn that off' but all that came out was a mumble.

"Sarah he's awake," said a familiar voice. He could hear footsteps approach him. James turned slightly and saw his sister sitting at his bedside. Sarah was standing behind her and Captain Ambrose appeared at the foot of his bed accompanied by Captain McNair.

"How do you feel Marine?" Captain Ambrose asked him.

"Ugh, put me out of my misery," he replied receiving a chuckle for it. "How's everybody else?"

"Good," Amy said grabbing his hand and holding it tight. "You were the worst off, you moron. You should've let them evacuate you after you got hurt."

"You're telling me," he said, "I'm fucked up."

Sarah frowned at him, Captain's Ambrose and McNair grinned, and Amy just looked worried. They all stared at him while he just lay there relaxing.

"Aunt Theresa's going to beat you black and blue when she finds out," Amy said, "And I might too once you get better." Everybody present grinned at this.

"I didn't realize you two were related," Captain Ambrose commented, "Figured the names were just a coincidence."

"Yes, sir," James said, "She followed me out here." He turned to Amy, "Aunt Theresa will never know. The only person to get contacted for me is you, and only if I die."

"But Uncle Jamie will see the casualty report," she argued, "And I guess that means this has happened before."

"His medical record is as thick as his head," Sarah said pointing to it on a desk. James tried to laugh but found he was too tired to do that.

"You save a lot of lives," Captain Ambrose said, and Captain McNair nodded, "and you killed a lot of the enemy. Intelligence shows that a whole enemy battalion had to be diverted to deal with you. The Covenant battle net is going crazy about the black suited creatures who took out two of their top commanders. We think it was that Brute and the Elite you killed in the first rescue. Footage has already gotten out, and is being shown in the mess right now and is on its way to Reach and probably Earth too."

"What footage?" Amy asked, "James if you did something stupid I swear to god I will beat your ass."

"You wish," James said before closing his eyes and drifting off.


	12. Author's Note

A/N for War Games: This is my first attempt at writing a story. Hope you liked it. Whether you did or didn't please take the time to let me know how it could be improved. If you'd like a continuation of the story please let me know. Original characters, scenarios and plot ideas are more than welcome.


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